Well folks, I love to rag on Hollywood for being out of ideas, but credit where credit’s due, this weekend there are two big movies opening, and they’re tracking 98 and 94% recommended on rottentomatoes, respectively, which is better than any damn weekend I can remember (that’s fancy writer talk for “I don’t want to look it up”).

Up
I bow before Pixar.  You haters can over-politicize it all you want, but Wall E was one of the best movies I’ve seen in the last few years.  And by many accounts, Up is just as good.  How do they do it?  I hear they bathe in the blood of Christian babies.  It’s true.  I read that somewhere.

Drag Me to Hell
The trailer may not look like much, but keep in mind this is Sam Raimi we’re talking.  Throw out emo Spider-Man and you’ve got movies like Spider-Man 2 (possibly my favorite comic-book movie) and Army of Darkness (GRR, CHAINSAW HAND).  Plus, everyone says it’s good.  And who are you to argue with everyone?  You’re just some asshole on a computer.

Limited Release:

Departures
“Daigo Kobayashi is a young married cellist who played in an orchestra that has just been disbanded. Suddenly on the street without a job, Daigo decides to move back to his hometown with his wife. There he gets a job as an undertaker. He sees himself as a sort of gatekeeper between life and death.”  Dude, you can’t just go around naming characters “Dago”.  Dat’s-a racist! You make-a mama cry!

Pontypool
“Shock-jock radio D.J. Grant Mazzy has, once again, been kicked off the Big City airwaves, and now the only job he can get is the early morning show at CLSY Radio in the small town of Pontypool which broadcasts from the basement of the small town’s only church. What begins as another boring day of school bus cancellations due to yet another massive snow storm quickly becomes deadly.”  …Sounds almost like …panty pool? Pocket pool? I got nothin.  You can just go to Yahoo for the rest of these indies.  They’re probably not playing in your town anyway.